The rest of the NBA is already doing whatever it can to prepare for the Milwaukee Bucks this coming season. This team has garnered a lot of attention of late — and rightfully so. After all, the opposition will need to figure out how to prevent a nightly explosion from both Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.
Milwaukee Bucks Are Looking Great
Khris Middleton is well aware of how dangerous this new-look Bucks side can be. As a matter of fact, the three-time All-Star is adamant that Lillard’s addition to the squad will provide even more opportunities for the rest of the team:
“It looks wide open,” Middleton said, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “It looks easy, just because you got Giannis all over the court, Dame all over the court. I mean, they have been getting most of the attention their whole career. (With) Dame, guys are going to guard him all the way to half court, sometimes even without the ball, so there are so many gaps out there. Same thing with Giannis at the rim. Everybody knows what type of threat he is with the ball in his hands and when it’s not, so I think we all see those gaps.”
For his part, Middleton also knows that he’s going to be given more room to operate this coming season now that most of the attention will be on Giannis and Lillard. Middleton intends to capitalize on this as much as he can:
“I think me being a shooter and a scorer these last couple years, I’ve gotten some respect as defenses have stayed close to me,” he said. “Teams are just going to have to find that balance of who to leave, how to leave and how they’re going to guard us. That gives a lot of room to operate, lanes to drive, but it’s going to take time.”
Khris Middleton’s Caveat for Milwaukee Bucks
Middleton isn’t expecting everything to be perfect, though. As he said, building this chemistry is going to take time. It won’t happen overnight.
“The first practice that we had together went well, I think,” he said. “We saw how easy it can work when we’re all on the same page. But it’s not going to be that easy every day, every night. We just gotta figure out how to communicate and get everybody on the same page.”
It’s great to hear that the Bucks are already getting on the same wavelength early on, but at the end of the day, they will only be tested once they take the court.
Giannis and Lillard made their preseason debuts on Sunday in a win against the Los Angeles Lakers, but in truth, that doesn’t really count. What will matter is when the Bucks play the Philadelphia 76ers in their season opener on October 26th — and of course, every single game that follows after that.
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